1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention an improvement in my previous tire deflating apparatus deployed from a vehicle and, in particular, the improved device is rendered harmless once a single vehicle passes over it.
2. The Prior Art
There seems to be an unfortunate increase in the instances of the police becoming involved in high speed chases of vehicles which have been involved in some sort of illegal activity. The chases are extremely dangerous and have resulted in a great many fatalities, usually of innocent parties. A large number of schemes have been proposed for causing the deflation of the tires of the fleeing vehicle, many of these require depositing spiked strips ahead of the fleeing vehicle and then hoping that the driver of the fleeing vehicle will take a certain route leading to the spiked strips and will not take any evasive action to avoid the spiked strips while on this route.
A major problem with most spiked strips is the danger they pose after deployment, particularly after the target vehicle has been stopped. Another major problem with vehicle mounted spike strip deployment devices is the amount of room they take up in the already crowded front seat of a patrol car. The present invention addresses and overcomes both of these major problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,652,059 to Groblebe shows a spike strip with hollow tubes on the spikes which penetrate and stay with a tire.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,285 to Greves et al shows a spike strip having a triangular section with spikes arranged along each side to assure penetration of a tire by a spike regardless of how the strip lands on the road surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,962 to Greves et al is similar to the above discussed patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,397 to Soleau shows spikes with supports mounted on a base plate. The spike penetrates a tire and is torn from the base plate together with its support.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,109 to Lowndes discloses a device to be deployed in advance of the car to be stopped. It combines spike strips, similar to those currently in use, with an apparatus to deploy the spiked strips, which have hollow spikes to increase the rate of deflation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,408 to Abukhader is somewhat similar to the above-mentioned Pacholok et al patent. It is distinguished by the fact that the spikes are hollow to assure deflation of the punctured tire. It would have the same difficulties as the Pacholok device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,445 to Jones discloses hollow spikes projecting from a base. This device is to be used with parked cars, placed by hand on either side of a tire of the car to be disabled, to prevent the car from being driven off.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,849 to Pacholok et al discloses a device which is fired forward from a trailing vehicle. The device opens to deploy spikes against the tires of the lead vehicle. There would appear to be an inherent problem with this type of device. If there is a miss, then there is a substantial possibility causing damage to the trailing car's tires.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,443 to Soleau shows a tire deflating device in which the spikes are explosively propelled into the tire. It seems that this device would be a hazard to those handling it.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,293 to Dickenson shows a spike strip having break-away spikes which stay with the tire once the spike penetrates therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,291 to Mateychuk shows a tire deflating device having break away spikes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,312,189 to Marphetia shows spikes held in a plate by resilient means and pulled therefrom when engaged in a tire.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,961 to Marphetia shows a complex assembly for holding spikes in a base. The base has apertures and an insert received in each aperture has arms which close about the base of the spike, both the spike and the insert being removed from the aperture when the spike engages a tire.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,013 to Blair shows spike strips removeably held on a base plate by hook and loop (VELCRO) type material.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,623,205 to Ramirez shows spikes which are freed from the base plate when they engage a tire.